The latest on VA32's volunteer programs, guest blogs from volunteers as well as tips & advice on volunteering in Africa from the VA32 team!

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Monday, 23 June 2014

Student Teaching Abroad in South Africa

A group of Texas State University teaching
students at one of our partner Wild Coast Schools

For the past few years Volunteer Africa 32 Degrees South (VA32) has been working to form partnerships with several US and UK universities to offer student teachers, psychologists, social scientists and other professions, the opportunity to extend and develop their skills through hands-on experience teaching on the VA32 Wild Coast Schools Education Projects. Using our experience working with universities including Texas State (US), Nuremburg (Germany), Marburg (Holland), York (UK) and Pacific Lutheran (US), this program has been fine-tuned to suit the specific needs of students and professors and to become an instrumental aspect of students professional development in their chosen field.

2014 sees the official launch of the new Students Teaching Abroad Project which places groups of students in the rural classrooms of the Wild Coast to deliver computer literacy and English language support to young South African learners. These objectives support the aims of VA32's long standing Wild Coast education initiatives while also developing the skills of students in teaching and classroom management, resource development and more.

The Project

South African learners in the computer lab

Students are placed in one of several primary schools in the wider Chintsa area, where they will plan lessons, create learning resources and deliver computer literacy lessons daily. Students work from a pre-planned curriculum or specialist project which also fits in with the South African National English Curriculum CAPS.

All student teachers are supported by our education co-ordinators who are professionals in the field and provide lesson observations and feedback, help with personal development plans, workshops on discipline and classroom management, and assistance in lesson and resource planning. This support is planned and structured before departure from your home country and can incorporate a professor from each university.

Afternoons are spent on the VA32 community development initiatives driving youth sports development, support to a local children's home of safety and a school gardening initiative which teaches the learners to grow vegetables. Some student groups choose to undertake individual research projects during their time in Chintsa - the learning space, internet support and time to do this can be accommodated into project in the afternoons.

A Taste of the Students Teaching Abroad Project

Get a taste of the project by watching this movie which was shot and produced by Cali - a student from Texas State University - who took part in the Students Teaching Abroad Project in 2013...

About Me

Volunteer Africa 32 Degrees South (VA32) is a volunteer organization based on the Wild Coast of South Africa. Running volunteer programs in education and conservation and hosting international volunteers, we have a lot going on- all the time! We thought a blog would be the perfect place to share these things, to share our thoughts on the industry and to give a little advice to volunteers and travellers from our collective experience! Please feel free to comment on our articles and share your thoughts too.